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Ulysses and the Sirens
Original price was: $599.00.$299.00Current price is: $299.00.
Artist: John William Waterhouse
Waterhouse painted the Sirens as winged predators closing on the bound Ulysses. Own this scene of controlled terror as a hand-painted oil reproduction on canvas.
Description
Description
Viewers have argued over this canvas for more than a century, unsettled by how far it strays from the sweet, singing temptresses of popular imagination. This Ulysses and the Sirens reproduction puts that argument back on your own wall, in the same scale of unease Waterhouse built into the original. What makes the reaction last is not a story told well, it is a set of choices made in paint.
About Ulysses and the Sirens Reproduction
The subject is Homeric, drawn from Book Twelve of the Odyssey, where Ulysses has his crew lash him to the mast so he can hear the Siren song and survive it. Waterhouse breaks with tradition immediately: his Sirens are not reclining beauties on rocks but winged, bird-bodied creatures who swarm the ship in flight, closing on the sailors like a flock going in for a kill. Ulysses sits at the centre, roped hard against the mast, his torso twisted and his face angled up into the sound. The men around him row on with their eyes shut or fixed forward, deaf by design, while the Sirens crowd close enough to touch, their faces caught somewhere between appetite and something colder.
Technically, the picture works in two registers at once. The sea and sky are handled loosely, in soft passages of blue-green and grey that let the eye rest, while the boat, the men, and the Sirens are built up in tight, dense strokes that hold the tension close to the surface. The warm, worn wood of the hull sits against the strange grey-violet skin of the Siren bodies, and that colour clash does much of the psychological work the subject demands. Painted in 1891, the work belongs to the height of the Victorian classical revival, when Waterhouse was moving away from tidy academic myth-painting toward scenes with real menace in them, and the horizontal format, over two metres wide in the original, gives the flock room to encircle the boat from both sides.
The hand-painted reproduction
Every ByMuseum version is a handmade oil painting, produced by a professional artist working directly on canvas rather than through any print process. The painter studies the original closely and rebuilds it stroke by stroke, matching the cool sea tones against the warm hull and the unsettling colouring of the Sirens, so the surface carries real ridges of oil paint rather than a flat printed image. Commissioning an oil painting reproduction of this scale means living with a version of the picture that holds its texture under raking light the way the original does, not a copy that goes flat under it. Hung where the light shifts through the day, it keeps giving up new detail: a Siren face you had read as hungry that now reads as curious, a rope you had not noticed pulling tight across a forearm.
- Hand-painted oil on canvas, produced entirely by hand
- Available in multiple sizes to suit your space
- Gallery-wrapped and ready to hang
- Certificate of authenticity included
- Painted to order in 2 to 3 weeks, then delivered in 5 to 7 days
Additional information
Additional information
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Artwork guide
The story behind Ulysses and the Sirens
Explore the painting’s history, composition and meaning in the ByMuseum art guide.
Read the history and meaning of Ulysses and the SirensPRODUCT INFORMATION
Each ByMuseum artwork is a hand-painted oil painting reproduction created by trained artists on high-quality cotton canvas. Every piece is reviewed, finished, and packed according to the framing option you select.
Empty walls flatten a room. A classical artwork restores structure and visual hierarchy. One painting defines the space, anchors furniture, and establishes identity.
Delivery in 3 to 4 weeks
Worldwide shipping included. Each painting is produced to order and safely packed for international transport.
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Authentic hand-painted reproduction
Real brushwork, layered oil paint, and durable pigments on museum-quality canvas.
90-day money-back guarantee
If the result does not meet expectations, return it for a full refund.
Unframed — Rolled in Tube
Your artwork is painted on premium cotton canvas, then shipped safely rolled in a rigid tube with extra blank canvas border — ready for stretching or framing locally.
Framed — Ready to Hang
Select a handcrafted frame and we’ll deliver your painting fully assembled, protected, and ready to hang.
For safe shipping, framing is available up to a maximum size. Larger sizes will automatically disable the frame option.
Stretched Canvas
Choose “Stretched” to receive your canvas mounted on wooden stretcher bars — perfect if you’ll frame it later or display it as-is.
Gallery Wrap
Gallery Wrap is a deeper, 1.5" style stretcher. The canvas wraps around the sides and is stapled on the back for a clean, modern, frameless look.
Insured Express Delivery
We ship with UPS, FedEx, or DHL straight to your door. You’ll receive a tracking number as soon as your order leaves our studio. Typical delivery is 5 to 7 days after dispatch; large, framed, or stretched pieces may take longer depending on the safest shipping route.
Unframed canvases are protected with a film, carefully rolled, and secured inside a rigid shipping tube.
Stretched, Gallery Wrapped, and Framed paintings are wrapped, cushioned with foam protection, and boxed for safe transit.
